West Bromwich Albion have appointed Darren Moore as their manager after his successful stint in interim charge.
Moore took over in April following the sacking of Alan Pardew and oversaw a striking improvement in results, winning three and drawing two of his six matches to give West Brom hope of survival where there had seemingly been none.
“We are delighted to confirm Darren as our new head coach and we look forward to his continuing the excellent work we saw when he stepped into the role in an interim capacity in the first week of April,” said the club’s chief executive, Mark Jenkins.
“He embodies the spirit of the club and the spirit of what we are striving to achieve in this new chapter ahead. We conducted a thorough process of recruitment but Darren’s powerful impact on the pitch and across all areas of the club established him as the outstanding candidate.”
Relegation was confirmed before a final-day defeat at Crystal Palace and Moore has been entrusted with trying to return the club to the Premier League. The 44-year-old former defender has coached at West Brom for several years but this will be his first experience of full-time management.
“We suffered a torrid season but if there was a redeeming feature it was to see Darren at work over those final weeks, galvanising the club and getting everyone positive again,” said Jenkins. “We all know we have a challenging summer ahead of us but from talking at length to Darren about his plans, they are challenges he is ready to meet head on.”
West Brom considered other candidates, including the Brentford manager, Dean Smith.
